Double Wide

I love these giant feet. These are Zackary's double wides. I'm serious, the only place I can buy him shoes that actually fit well is at Stride Rite and in double wide. We have always thought they where like little bricks. 

I love them!

Dirt'n'rocks

This picture was taken right next to our back door. It was not set up, posed, or planned. This is pretty much what our back patio looks like everyday, despite my multiple attempts at sweeping. Today I walked out the door to find this pile that obviously a little Cat Loader dumped right in front of the door. Can I tell you how crazy this makes me. I know the boys are just having a great time digging in the dirt but seriously I can't take walking over the little rocks on the concrete and them having them tracked through our entire house. But let me tell you...all this is coming to and end come next Thursday. We are finally having pavers installed where all the little rocks are right now. They served their purpose and more over the last couple of years, but we finally are going to splurge and finish the back yard.

I CAN'T WAIT!

Here are some additional pictures that make me somewhat crazy. Large rocks mixed with the little rocks, well and a shattered pot with ashes everywhere from boys (big and little) having loads of fun!

Poor Otis

Today Otis had dental surgery. Cleaning and a couple of extractions under anesthesia. He just looks so sad. His little leg was shaved for his IV and he is moping around. We are giving him pain medication, but it is sad to see him without is normal personality. Hopefully it will return in the morning.

Delish 4/365

This might be my all time favorite ice cream. Cake batter with cookie dough from Cold Stone. So sweet and delish. This was the other part of my nutritious dinner tonight. Frosted Mini Wheats with ice cream for dessert. The baby likes it!

24 Weeks

24 weeks today! This pregnancy is sure going by fast. Probably because I'm so busy chasing 2 sweet boys around. I really enjoy being pregnant. I feel really good despite a little back pain and tons of pressure. I can manage it though. We still haven't decided on a name but we now have a short list. Everything is going great, she is growing as expected and moving a ton. It is still such different movements than the boys, still the rolling and tumbling vs. swift kicks. We have a lot to do to get ready, we pulled out all the bedding we purchased for our girl that was really a boy! I still love it, I just have to come up with how to decorate the room. I think I want to go really girly, classy girly. It's time to do some research on that. I need to get a bed for Lane and move him into Zackary's room. That is going to be a fun project. I'm not sure I'm ready to tackle, but it needs to be done soon. I can't wait to meet our sweet Baby Sissy.

2/365

Here is a dear friend of ours. As Aaron randomly said this morning "we go through Bisquick like it's going out of style." That statement truly says it all. Thanks Bisquick for being so delicious.

1/365

I just saw something on FB about documenting life for 1 year 1 picture at a time. I think it sounds fun, however, a little time consuming if I post them on the blog. Maybe I need to just post them on FB. We will see, I need to do some more research on how to go about this. So I started off taking a picture of the major project we completed today. I know it doesn't look organized at all, but it is. There is several boxes for Goodwill, and the huge tote in the front is garbage that didn't fit into ours. Well, and Spidy...we need to find him a home. We finished up putting Christmas decorations away, despite a few meltdowns about putting Santa and the lights away (more on that later). Everything is labeled and has a new home. We can actually reach everything without moving half the garage. The bikes, scooters, and ride on toys can all be reached by the kids. I felt so invigorated cleaning this mess out, I really wish I had taken a before picture. 

 Perhaps we are nesting...

Santa

I must say, Santa had a rough year. Well, it all started at the end of last year when we encountered a drive by fruiting. Poor Santa was the victim. His arm was badly injured but we still chose to save him. We had to do some minor surgery to fix Santa for another year of greeting all of our friends, family, and neighbors that stopped by. However, the sutures (duct tape) was difficult to keep in place due to the movement in his right arm. He did spend most of the year standing and waving proudly, but sometimes he just couldn't make it through the day. With some additional minor fixes we had him back up on no time. 

 Hopefully we can repair him a little better for next year.

Plasma Cars

I think the pictures say it all! 

Yes, this one is Auntie Cindy teaching the kids how to crash into eachother.  Safe riding didn't last very long.

Christmas PM

We spent the afternoon of Christmas at my folks house with Grandma Mina and Auntie Cindy, Leslie and Sam.  We had a great dinner, fun opening presents, and a great time on the new plasma cars

(a whole post on its own to come). 

Here is the clean up crew from the broken glass, not from my children by the way, and notice the supervisor, Ha!

 

Merry Christmas!

Christmas AM

Christmas morning was so fun this year.  Every year gets better and better.  Zackary was very into Santa this year, he loved hearing stories of him coming and leaving presents, leaving cookies and carrots out for him, and all the 'whys' about how he would get in the house, where he will land, etc.  It was so fun to hear all his stories about what the thought.  They both woke up around 7:45, nice for us, and peaked down the stairs to find the Santa gifts left out by the tree, and were amazed that he really did come.  We opened presents slowly and 1 at a time so we could see the reaction and they could see what everyone got.  It is nice to have some new toys to play with that are a little more age appropriate. 

Tree Decorating

I love Christmas even more with children.  Everything is so much more fun.  It all reminds me of being a kid again and all the fun things we used to do.  This year the boys loved everything about Christmas.  We ended up decorating the tree over two days.  I love how all the ornaments are all about 3 feet high and that there is about 5 on the same branch.  Every time I walk by it, it brings me a smile and a little giggle.  Several of the ornaments ended up as toys and a few broken, but with a little glue they all survived another year of 2 little boys.  I tried to get a picture of how many ornaments ended up on the same branch, the picture really doesn't capture what it really looked like.  Oh the memories!

Meet Barnaby

This is our sweet little Barnaby. Our Elf on the Shelf. This little elf watched over the boys during the day and reported back to Santa each night. The boys looked forward to finding his new spot each morning. This was such a fun new tradition we started this year. The boys are already asking when Barnaby gets to come back.

Just the tip

Wow! This is one of our favorites every year. The cactus with just the tips covered with styrofoam cups. Yes, you read it right. I guess they just want to save the tips.

Birthday Celebration

We celebrated Zackary's birthday again, but on his birthday as a family.  We had brinner (breakfast for dinner), his favorite pancakes and eggs.  Then we decorated cookies.  We had cupcakes about 5 times in the last month so we tried something different for his birthday.  We had a great time rolling and cutting out the cookies, making frosting, then decorating.  As you can see, Zackary loved the decorating process.  

Happy Birthday again Zackary.  

4

Zackary turned 4.  This is something I probably say way too often.  But really, where has the last 4 years gone.  He is so big!  I don't even know where to begin.  He might be the sweetest little boy around.  He is so thoughtful, caring, tender, and well sometimes, a little wild.  But what little boy isn't right?   

He has the most beautiful blue eyes and a great head of blond hair.  He is still really into tractors, airplanes, and animals, especially horses.  He even does one serious impression of a horse.  This is what we call horse man, and usually when horse man comes out we know he has officially hit the wall and is heading right to bed.  You see horse man is nice but he tends to get a little crazy, wild, and loud.  I know someday we will look back and laugh at horse man but in the moment it is a little frustrating.

At his 4 year appointment he weighed in at 42 pounds which keeps him trucking right along in the 95th percentile.  Along with his height too.  I have one solid little boy.  What a rough appointment, I usually enjoy well checks, but man, the 4 year was horrible.  Like I have heard many say, it's true.  For some reason this one they just know shots are coming and what they feel like, then they like to talk about how bad it was for days.  I felt so bad, but no more for quite some time.